The ACU chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts hosted a workshop with guest speaker Simon Walker last Friday.

Walker, best known for his work with both Austin Eastciders and Modern Times Beer, has also worked with a variety of corporate clients including Nickelodeon, Target and Pepsi. He also works with celebrities including author Brené Brown, actor and comedian Ed Helms and the publishing company, Penguin Books. The ACU event is the first time Walker has agreed to do a workshop.

Every semester, AIGA hosts a workshop for art students to learn from and meet professional designers in a variety of fields. The events serve the same purpose as studio trips, allowing students to ask experienced artists questions about their work.

Paulina Servin, president of the ACU AIGA chapter, said in just the three hours she learned about her own work and how designers have to continually improve their process and portfolio.

“People don’t usually know all the hard work it takes for designers to create fonts, and even customer lettering like Simon’s has so many rules that we might never even think about,” Servin said. “There was so much I learned in just this three hour workshop, even amazing designers like Simon, have to keep working on projects over and over to make them better and even look back at past projects and know they could have done better.”

Twenty students attended the workshop, but the AIGA team looks forward to continuing the tradition of bringing in big-name designers

Our team is always trying to have workshops for the students, at least one each semester. Servin said next semester, they are hoping to bring Jeff Rogers back for a workshop.